United States

San Diego County's record heat dangerous to avocado crops

The record temperatures across San Diego County last week may prove to have a devastating impact on next year's avocado crop. Burnet Wohlford, an avocado grower and manager for other farms said that the coming weeks would tell just how severely next year's avocado crop has been damaged. And this amid a season that was going very well.

Avocado trees are very vulnerable to extreme temperatures, Wohlford explained. The fruit is even more at risk when the protective leaves are damaged.

The head of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, Eric Larson, says the heat wave is just the latest of a number challenges for local farmers, who have been struggling for years to find enough labour, pay for expensive water and compete with imported product.

"For local consumers," said Larson, "I think their concerns should be: how healthy are the farmers going to be? Sixteen, seventeen years ago we had 35,000 acres of avocados in San Diego County. We're pushing 17 now."